PREFACE

This translation of St. Bonaventura's "Itinerarium Mentis ad Deum" is

addressed to undergraduate students of the history of philosophy who may

wish to read a work of a great medieval Franciscan thinker. I have used the

Latin text of the Franciscan Fathers contained in "Tria Opuscula"

(Quaracchi), fifth edition, 1938. Biblical quotations are taken from the

Douay Bible, since that is a translation of the Vulgate, which, it goes

without saying, St. Bonaventura used. In order to make the translation more

readable, I have taken the liberty of breaking up a few of the longer

sentences and once in a while have inserted explanatory words and phrases

in square brackets. In two places, indicated in footnotes, I have made

slight emendations to the text. Students who approach this work for the

first time would do well to familiarize themselves with Giotto's painting

of St. Francis receiving the stigmata, for the "Itinerarium" could almost

be called a meditation upon the vision there depicted.

My deepest thanks are given to the Reverend George Glanzman, S. J., who

made a painstaking comparison of this translation with the Latin original

and suggested several revisions which improved my first draft. I have

accepted all of his suggestions gratefully but, of course, I alone am

responsible for the version as it now appears. Any errors in the

translation, footnotes, and introduction must be laid at my door.

G. B.